Ford’s New Aluminum F-150 Will Cost $395 to $3,615 More

July 28 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. is raising prices on
its new aluminum-bodied F-Series pickup by $395 to $3,615 as it
tries to convince drivers to embrace a more advanced truck with
the best fuel economy ever offered by the automaker.

Ford dealers today began taking orders for the new truck
that’s due in showrooms later this year, Mike Levine, a
spokesman for the Dearborn, Michigan-based company, said in an
interview. The base model 2015 XL F-150 starts at $26,615, up
$395 or 1.5 percent, while the top-end Platinum version starts
at $52,155, up $3,055, or 6.2 percent. The biggest increase is
on the King Ranch F-150, which now starts at $49,460, up $3,615,
or 7.9 percent, Levine said.

Ford is betting a lightweight, aluminum-bodied pickup with
fuel economy that may approach 30 miles (48 kilometers) per
gallon on the highway will entice buyers to pay a premium for
the F-Series, its top selling and most profitable model. The
second-largest U.S. automaker also is packing the new truck with
extra standard features, such as 8-inch (20 centimeters) digital
dashboard displays, LED lights, inflatable seatbelts and heated
rear seats, Levine said.

“Aluminum is more costly than steel, but the price
increases that we’re giving our customers reflect the added
content, not the materials,” Levine said. “Our customers are
also getting improved performance and better efficiency.”

The increases, especially on the high-end Platinum and King
Ranch models, will enable Ford to restore a price advantage of
$3,000 to $4,000 over General Motors Co.’s pickups, Brian
Johnson, a Barclays Plc analyst, wrote today in a note. The
smaller price increase on the low-end F-150 models will help
Ford fend off a surge by Chrysler Group LLC’s Ram truck.

GM, Chrysler

The sticker price of the F-150 “increases only modestly at
the base end, but dramatically at the upper end,” Johnson
wrote. “Ford is likely trying to signal to the dealer base that
it expects to remain competitive in the lower end of the market
(where the Ram has made inroads), while reinforcing its price
leadership in upper trim levels.”

About 70 percent of Ford’s F-150 sales are in the base XL
and XLT models, where prices rose the least, Johnson said. Its
mid-level Lariat, which generates 15 percent of F-150 sales,
rises $895 or 2.3 percent, to start at $39,880, Levine said.

Upgrading to the 3.5-liter turbocharged “EcoBoost” V-6
will get $100 cheaper, Levine said. That engine is now a $1,995
upgrade from the base, non-turbocharged 3.7 liter V-6, he said.
Previously, the 3.5 liter engine option cost $2,095. A new and
smaller 2.7 liter EcoBoost V-6 will cost $495, Levine said.

Production Break

Ford is set to lose production of more than 90,000 F-Series
pickups as it shuts its two factories making the models for 13
weeks this year to convert them to produce the aluminum truck.
The automaker said on July 24 that the conversion will crimp
profits in the second half of the year.

Ford rose 0.1 percent to $17.64 at the close in New York.
The automaker’s shares have added 14 percent this year.

The F-150 arriving in showrooms at year’s end sheds more
than 700 pounds (318 kilograms) to improve fuel economy, mostly
by using aluminum instead of steel in its body. In 2013, Ford’s
F-Series truck was the top-selling vehicle line in the U.S. for
the 32nd consecutive year, with sales rising 18 percent to
763,402. That helped drive Ford’s North American pretax profits
to a record $8.78 billion last year.

“The F-150 changeover to aluminum is the largest, most
complicated launch in the history of the company,” Adam Jonas,
an analyst with Morgan Stanley with an “overweight” rating on
Ford, said in an interview last week. “It’s going to be a very
painful process. They won’t know until they turn the machine on
how the products will be.”